RACE AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

November 4, 2014 4:39 PM

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Economic dissatisfaction has helped make Senate races in places with large communities of color such as Georgia and North Carolina competitive for more progressive candidates. And it’s placed governors with national aspirations such as Scott Walker of Wisconsin in jeopardy. Still its biggest impact will likely be on the depression of voter turnout this year. Voter cynicism about a lost economic decade might drive voter participation today to its lowest level in the nation’s history.

As I have written before, despite the economic “good news” of recovery, the reality for most Americans is that they remain worse off than a decade ago. Wages are at a 40-year low, black and Latino wealth is the lowest on record, and the unemployment rate for those under 30 is twice as high as the of...